Cyber Security and Tips for Safe Computer Use

Are you "Social"? Do you use Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Foursquare or any other number of social networking websites? Is your computer protected?

With the tremedous growth in popularity of social networking sites and the trend towards living more and more of our lives online, the risks of being spammed or hacked grows exponentially.

Here is a quick look at five simple steps you can take to reduce your risk of attacks from malware and hackers.

1. Always Use Anti Virus Software:  Many web users still do not have even a basic anti-virus software program installed on their computers. This leaves you vunerable and open to attacks, data loss and most worrysome, identity theft. If you do have an anti-virus program installed on your system, take a look and make sure that it is current and up to date.
2. Update your computer: Pop up notifications.. Annoying right? But how much time would it take for your to get your life and financial matters back on track once your identity has been stolen? The patches and security fixes are vital to ensuring that your system stays safe and secure and your information remains guarded from cyber criminals.  Restarting your computer takes a lot less time than trying to remove a Trojan virus.
3. Routinely Scan your System and Connected Devices: Threat's may come and go in the matter of a few hours or days only to be replaced by another version. That's why it is important to routinely scan both your computer as well as any other devices (USB Drives, backups etc) that you connect to your computer. They are all capable of spreading infections. Most anti-malware products have settings avilable to run daily scans automatically. Take a look and make sure yours is setup to do so.
4. Strengthen and Change Passwords: Even the most amature cybercriminals can gain access to your accounts if they can get ahold of your passwords. If you don't think a website or email offer is genuine, then don't divulge your passwords. Treat it as gold. Make a phone call to check out the site if you think it's questionable. Also, when setting a new password, maximize your security by using a combination of letters (Upper and Lowercase) as well as numbers. Avoid anything expected like a birthday, child's birthday, pet name, addresses etc. Get into the habit of changing your password every three months.
5. Secure any business interests: If you are a business owner, unprotected computers can result in lost revenue and employee productivity. Make sure all networks and sensitive data is secured. A small investment in solutions that protect the points of entry (Email servers, Web servers etc) will save time money and frustration. Also note that the sources of computer infections are changing at a rapid pace.  Panda Security conducted a recent survey on Social Media Risk Index and found that 33 percent of small to medium sized business have been infected by virus's contracted via Social Networking websites.

Cyber security should be on the forefront of everyone's mind the minute they log into any website or computer. Threats are constantly changing and cyber criminals are always coming up with new ways to steal your data and exploit any open opportunities.  Make Cyber Security Awareness month  the primary time to review your computer security and keep your information safe and secure.